Iranian filmmaker judging at Slemani film festival

Iranian filmmaker Pouran Derakhshandeh has been set to join the jury panel at the 4th Slemani International Film Festival in Iraq.

Presided over by the director of the Berlin International Short Film Festival Heinz Hermanns from Germany, other members of the jury are film director and cinematographer Adrian Belic from the US, executive director of the Tampere International Film Festival Juhani Alanen from Finland, and film and media manager Zulfiye Akkulak from Germany.

Born in 1951, Derakhshandeh is an Iranian script writer, producer and director who graduated from the Advanced School of Television and Cinema in 1975.

She began working for the national broadcaster as a documentarian, producing more than 30 short films and documentaries about subjects such as the plague, recession, drug addiction, smuggling, traditional ceremonies, music from different parts of Iran, handicrafts of Kurdistan, the mineral springs of Haraz, thread, silk and wool, among others.

As the first female filmmaker following Iran’s Islamic Revolution, she made her directorial debut with ‘The Relationship’ in 1986. The film went on to win an award from the Italian Giffoney film festival.

In 1987, she was nominated for a Crystal Simorgh Best Director award at the Fajr International Film Festival for ‘Little Bird of Happiness’. The film received a certificate of merit and the Grand Prize at Argentina Women's Film Fest and the Golden Torch Prize from the Korean Film Fest.

In 2007, Derakhshandeh won Golden Butterflies for Best Film, Best Director and Best Artistic and Technical Achievement for ‘Forever Young’ (2006) from the 21st Children and Young Adults Film Festival. The film also won awards at the Baku East-West International Film Festival and the Venezuela Film Festival.

Her movie ‘Hush! Girls Don't Scream’ (2013) received the Audience Choice Crystal Simorgh at the Fajr Film Festival in 2013.

Derakhshandeh has made movies such as ‘Candle in the Wind’ (2003), 'Tempestuous Youth' (2005) and ‘Persisting Dreams’ (2009) as well.

She is a member of the International Center of Films for Children and Young People, American Association of Women in Film, American Association of Independent Feature Project and the deputy head of the Iranian Cinema Directors Association. She has also served on the jury panel at various domestic and international film festivals.

The 4th Slemani International Film Festival is slated for October 1-7, 2019 in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq.

MG/MG